So what they're saying is that Microsoft has taken its talent of lying to investors to a new company?

Bullshit. I'm as hardcore a WOW gamer as has ever lived, and I barfed at Dragonflight and quit playing a month in. Microsoft is one of the biggest liars on earth. They're lying about this. If WOW were this popular again, it'd be all over South Park, movies, tv, radio, and talked about like it used to be. I haven't heard anyone mention it in 5 years.

Only 935 people bothered to rate it on Metacritic, and it has an average rating of 3.4. While it's possible a few million people still play, there's no way that horrific expansion "trended upward." Just Microsoft sociopathy at it again. People play games they liked, and not very many people liked this expansion.

Sorry, I don't get on here a whole lot, I'd forgotten about that (getting up here a bit). You know, I'd never thought about it till we talked about that, but you're right. There are some games that do use that as a gimmick, and that's more offensive than not trying to be "diverse" at all. You can kind of tell which games it's just a natural part of the script and others that overdo it.

@gamespotter_198: Well it's a Window Central article, I'm not sure they'd tell their investors real subscriber counts. I'll give you an example. My MS games are open on my comp all the time. I close them. They re-open. Microsoft also takes the liberty of opening up a large number of other MS products I haven't used in 20 years. So if someone looked at my numbers there, I'm using Microsoft all day every day. In reality, I'm afraid to even use their Windows updates, they mangle my $3,000 comp for 24-hours after every update.

Microsoft will never be hurting for money. I understand layoffs happen. They're not even the most negligent, boneheaded company out there, there are many more just as bad or worse. The government should have regulated these companies 20 years ago, but when you're dealing with 80-year-old politicians who don't even understand social media, the chances of that happening are zero. And it's a nice cash flow anyway, not sure they'd want to interrupt the party.

But yeah, Microsoft isn't going under any time soon. Most tech companies stay lively by ripping off investors, not customers. Investors have an endless stream of money, they'll just keep investing until it's happy hour again.

@olddadgamer: Right,. they're in places where $600,000 might get you a passable house. Maybe. I went off the path there, I just wanted to remind everyone some of us are still rotting in 50s America here and don't always hear the same language as people in cities. If you ever want to neutralize one of us or help us understand, give us the average home price where you are. Then we'll get it Once my friend in Seattle explained their situation I was like, "Okay. So that's why you're panicking."

As for the "dry counties" - There are counties here that don't sell alcohol. We still call them dry counties, that's straight out of the 50s. So help me God, we still have a bootlegger business here, or moonshine if you turn up the right road. It's another world.

But I agree with what you're saying, just wanted to explain why some people might be confused about some of the income numbers mentioned or might not understand the situation in tech right now (me included, I had to go back and re-read the thread).

@blaznwiipspman1: Ha. Yeah that's part of the modern era. "I can't save, I have nothing," but then you look and they've spent $10,000 on electronics that year. Or $2,000 on lattes. And their mobile gaming bill is in the thousands, too. We're trained now. We need all these little things - real-life microtransactions - so there's no room to save for emergencies. Gotta have another $1,000 worth of games this month. I've been there.

@olddadgamer: This is part of the divide in the country with rural/urban areas. It's like both are talking about two different countries. And you are. There are still places in the United States where you can grab a 2,500 square foot house for $100K or under. In these areas, $16,000 a year is a working class income. And there are people who live on that and have food on the table.

My friend from Seattle was floored by what things cost here where I am. And I remember my brother-in-law visiting from Austin in 2005, and he walked in our apartment at the time and he was like, "Holy shit, how can you afford this?" It was one of the cheaper places in the area, you could get a penthouse for next to nothing.

The trade-off: There's nothing to do. Drugstore soda fountains are culture. One movie theater. Still dry counties all around.

@lonewolf1044: As much as I wish that weren't true, you're right. I do often write the world the way I wish it was. But it isn't happening. Maybe in the next life.

@mogan: I wish you weren't, but you're right.

@rabidgiantsr: They're lying about sales.

@lonewolf1044: They broke anti-trust laws in acquiring this company. Come 2024, that's going to be where the country gets back to business again. It's far past time to break up these monopolies.